Freezing: Promethean
by Eren C. Jaeger
Summary: There are Limiters and then there are Pandoras. Now a new breed will be added to humanity's list of defenses against the Nova: a Titan. In ancient Greek mythology a titan called Prometheus had created the first human, her name was Pandora. She was powerful, as are the Pandoras named after her, but she was nothing compared to a Titan. Carter is a Promethean class Titan.
1. 1st Prologue

1st Prologue:

He'd just destroyed 5 Novas. He'd been sucked in, the Nova's attempt at controlling him, only for him to take a chunk out of it's core; he'd been flattened, one of the Nova had body slammed him – it was clearly a defective model; he'd been crushed, one of the Nova sprouted the usual ribbon-like tentacles and tried to kill him via constriction. He'd taken out the other two Novas with a mace and a small knife… a kitchen knife, to be exact.

5 hours; this fight had been raging for 5 hours. He was out of tricks, he'd done the opposite of what he was expected to do, he had done everything. Literally everything. He even threw a Frisbee at one of them; of course, the thing did have sharpened edges and was made of titanium, but still; he was desperate.

These 5 hours were the most tiring of his life, five hours of jumping between the Novas, five hours of endless fighting. Those five hours had made a week versus every Pandora on campus look like childsplay.

Oh, but you've probably noticed by now that our hero isn't female, and that's right: this fighter is not a Pandora.


	2. 2nd Prologue

2nd Prologue:

There are Limiters and then there are Pandoras. Now a new breed will be added to humanity's list of defenses against the Nova: a Promethean.

In ancient Greek mythology, a titan called Prometheus had created the first human, her name was Pandora. She was powerful, as are the Pandoras named after her, but she was nothing compared to a god… let alone a titan.

There was only ever one Promethean, his name was Carter Jaeger. Many thought he was a new experiment, but they were all wrong; just as Prometheus came before Pandora, the first Promethean came before the first Pandoras.

Being an early experiment, his creators were eager to see just how powerful they could make someone, and as a result he is far more powerful than any Pandora ever to exist; all of his power, raw; most of it, out of control. He has the same abilities as both a Pandora and a Limiter, but it was decided that a two-person team could make better decisions than one person working alone. Another reason for the Promethean program being scrapped was because Carter was forced into a demonstration, having had no time to experiment with his powers or learn to control them, he very nearly killed everyone at the demo.

Skip forward a few years and Carter is in a medically induced coma, a helmet-like piece of machinery wrapped around his head, this gadget allows him to communicate with anyone in the room (he may be in a coma but he is technically still conscious); if he wants to talk, all he has to do is think and the speakers in his helmet will do the talking. He is now 15 years old, and there is a Pandora at his bedside, a certain female Aoi family member; she herself had just become a Pandora. The two had been childhood friends, the only reason she was there was because Gengo Aoi thought it would be good for her and Carter if they each had someone to talk to.

Kazuha whispers something into Carter's ear, and his expression hardens – literally. His flesh begins to turn to stone, the Pandora then yells something at him, but she cannot be heard by the doctors as they stand outside the room. Something comes through over the speakers, he is replying, in a calm manner; he has a bad feeling about this particular Nova clash, he thinks something will go wrong. And something did go wrong… in fact, everything went terribly wrong; she ended up sacrificing everything, including her life.


	3. Chapter 1

Ch1:

Just after the E-Pandora incident in Alaska.

Everything is back to normal. No seriously, it is. The E-Pandoras are gone. It's now back to just Pandoras and Limiters, the usual two person team.

The Mably family had recovered, Dr. Gengo Aoi took complete control of all of Chevalier's projects and programs and – with the help of the el Bridgets – reimbursed them for all the trouble that the E-Pandora program caused them. Elizabeth's Limiter, André Françoise, has healed well and is now able to attend Genetics as Elizabeth's Limiter once more, although he still isn't battle ready.

Rana is back to trying to get Kazuya to be her Limiter, although she still has utmost respect for Satellizer. Kazuya is now recognized by all (excluding Rana) as Satellizer's Limiter, no one even questions whether or not a baptism actually took place. Enemies are still enemies – at least, on a combat level – and friends are still friends; all of the students getting better at setting aside rivalries that formed on the battlefield or during training. Amelia is now on Dr. Ohara's personal detail, Amelia says she only wishes to see Ohara suffer.

All seems to be in place, and all is in place for the next few weeks. But Gengo Aoi has been visiting the Holy Corpse more and more often, he and Kazuya often bumping into one another; but whenever the two meet, Dr. Gengo always seems to be deep in thought, never paying much attention to his surrounds. Then one day, while leaving the Ravensbourne Nucleotide, Dr. Gengo kept repeating to himself "The decision is made" or "She has spoken". "Who has spoken?" the doctor heard a voice, it was Sister Margaret. "Maria Lancelot has spoken" said Gengo. "What did she say?" asked the Sister. "The one she calls The Male Pandora, she has decided that he is to be awoken" He nervously replied. "Th- The Promethean? Are you sure?" "Yes" he answered in a grave tone. Sister Margaret looked shocked, but quickly regained her composure (at least on the outside, one could still tell something was wrong) and said "Effectively I am the Holy Corpse's caretaker, I will do what I must". "As will I" Gengo said, quickly putting on his usual stern face, so he could get to his car without the students noticing that something was up.

"In what way could this possibly work?" the doctor thought to himself, "I haven't visited him in years now, no one has, he'll probably try to kill me even before he wakes up" he thought, "Oh well, I'll just have to bear with it and fit this into my plans. I was planning on waking him up eventually, but not this soon, I only want him awake when the el Bridget girl reaches full potential, although it would also be good to have Chiffon around but unfortunately…"

Once the doctor got to the lab where the 'Male Pandora' was kept, he set his coat aside and headed down the corridor to the stasis room – when Kazuha died they had the Male moved to a stasis chamber. He had the doctors and scientists prepare to wake him up, "Are you sure?" one of them had asked, he blankly replied with "Maria has left me no choice". He then picked up a headset and started talking into it; "Carter, are you awake?". Silence. There was no reply over the speakers for a tense period of 10 seconds, no one had heard him speak in years… and then came a reply. "Would you believe me if I said no?" "I see you still have the ability to joke," Gengo replied, "I thought you'd lost that along with your ability to speak". "No, not really." Carter replied, "I've been in stasis for too long now - I'm already 24, been in here for more than ten years - ever since Kazuha died I've wanted to see her brother, to convey my condolences. But you denied me that. I've asked hundreds of times to be let out, but you denied me that as well. Along with the luxury that is life. So forget whether or not I'm awake," his tone became harsher and deeper, "because technically I'm not, and tell me why the heck you've decided to come back after all these years!" "Are you done?" Gengo calmly asked, when met with silence he continued, "Today, after all these years, I've come here not to visit you but to deliver some news to you." "Go on" Carter's said. "Maria Lancelot has decided that you are to be released from stasis and sent to learn at West Genetics." "Now she wants me there to protect her grave? Now? Why not before the last Clash?" Carter said in a tone that sounded rather upset. "I wish I could, but even I do not have the authority to question her decisions" Gengo replied. "Well then, what are you waiting for? Get me out of this thing."


	4. Chapter 2

Ch2:

Lunchtime. Satellizer and Kazuya are having lunch in the cafeteria at West Genetics, Satellizer was enjoying her burger when she noticed the floor shaking slightly. She then saw a helicopter landing on campus grounds. "Kazuya," she started, "why would there be a helicopter landing on the grounds? Now of all times, it's the middle of the semester and not even the middle of the day." "Huh? Oh, the helicopter." he said, clearly he was deep in thought about something, "Maybe Dr. Aoi needs to speak to Sister Margaret. He might be going to the Ravensbourne Nucleotide again… for the 4th time this week." "Maybe." Satellizer replied, "But why suddenly use a helicopter? He's been using his car all week." "Good question" a voice said. Kazuya and Satellizer both looked up to see that it was Ticy Phenyl. Her hair was now short and she wore Chiffon's ribbon as well, she acted cold and dejected and said "Let's go meet the new student."

The helicopter landing was a little rough for Carter's liking, having done nothing but sleep for more than a decade, his body was still waking up; he had 'pins and needles' all over, every single nerve ending in his body waking up at once, had this not been the case he would have been fine with a rough landing, but alas it was the case. As they got closer to the ground, he could sense the stigma energy; over the years he'd learned to sense the energy given off by stigmata tissue, he knew there were lots of Pandoras here, he also knew that stigmata energy leaves residual energy in the surrounds, but he didn't expect this much residual energy… much less the fact that the ground was pulsing with stigmata energy.

Then noticed a familiar scent. "Chiffon" he mumbled to himself. And that was what set him off, he simply jumped out of the helicopter; landing with a THUMP that was surely felt all the way over in the main building. As he was falling the short distance to the ground his body had turned to clay and changed form. He landed as a stone jaguar. He'd clearly been designing and redesigning this one as it looked like an Aztec statue of a jaguar. He turned to his left and saw Sister Margaret, he then asked "Where's Chiffon?" but he'd bounded off, following her scent, before the woman could answer.

When Ticy, Satellizer and Kazuya made it to the heli-pad, they noticed that the new student was nowhere to be seen. "Where is he?" Ticy asked coldly. Sister Margaret simply replied with "He's looking for Chiffon." Ticy's hands instantly went to her mouth and she started crying. Through her tears she managed to ask "He knew her?" "From birth" the Sister answered. Ticy ran off, seemingly to her room. "Satellizer," the Sister started, "could you please go talk to her?" Satellizer nodded and then headed off in the same direction as Ticy. "Kazuya, please go look for our new student before he gets himself into trouble." "Of course" he replied, he then started looking for a new student. First he was just looking for an unfamiliar face, then he realized that this new student probably wouldn't be in uniform and so started looking for someone who wasn't wearing a uniform of some sort.

_He'd cornered her. He hadn't found Chiffon but he'd found someone who smelled just like her. _

Ticy was horrified, she was so frightened that she couldn't think straight. She tried to scream, but her mouth produced no sound; she even tried to incarnate her Volt Weapon, but it just wouldn't take form.

_He took another step forward, closing the distance between himself and her._

Stone scraping against stone, the jaguar just kept coming closer.

_This girl had her own distinct scent, but it was mixed in with the scent of Chiffon. He could sense her stigmata, their energy and the residual power they radiate; but he sensed far more residual stigmata energy from her than was possible with only four stigmata._

She noticed that even though the stone jaguar was cornering her and closing in, it wasn't growling or snarling. That was when she realized it wasn't trying to kill her.

"You…" the jaguar said, "smell…"

'It can talk?' Ticy thought to herself. 'But why insult me?'

"… of Chiffon."


	5. Chapter 3

Ch3:

Kazuya had looked everywhere, he'd checked the dorms, the classes, most of the grounds and even some of the offices; but still, the new student was nowhere to be found. It was late, well into the night and he had no idea where else to search. Then he heard it; laughter, or more giggling; coming from the cafeteria. He headed in and saw Ticy sitting at a table with someone he had never seen before, she was clearly laughing at something the stranger had said.

"Did she really?" Ticy asked.

"Yup," the reply came, "took her a while to realize what she'd done though."

Ticy giggled even more, her face was red with laughter.

Before interrupting their conversation, Kazuya studied this newcomer's appearance: male, khaki shorts, a pair of reasonably worn running shoes, a gray short-sleeved shirt, dirty blonde hair, a short beard (shortish, Kazuya guessed he hadn't shaved in a few weeks), light blue eyes and something of an under bite.

"There you are" said a voice from the other side of the room, it was Satellizer and with her was Abel Rotomaster, Ticy's Limiter. "We've been looking all over for you" Abel said, "I was beginning to get worried" "Well, there's no need for that," the stranger said, "Ticy is perfectly capable of handling herself." Ticy blushed, Abel noticed this and instantly got defensive, he thought this newcomer was here to take his place as Ticy's Limiter, "Who are you?" "I'm Carter. Carter Jaeger, pleased to make your acquaintance. You must be Abel Rotomaster, I've heard a lot about you." "All good things I hope" Abel muttered under his breath, Ticy must have heard him because she gave him a look that said "What's wrong with you?"

At that moment Kazuya walked in and said "Ah, I see you beat me to him, Satellizer." Satellizer nodded. "Ah, I wondered why those stigmata of yours seemed so familiar, the Heroic Stigmata, you must be Satellizer el Briget, pleased to meet you." "You can sense stigmaga?" Ticy looked at him in awe, Abel thought he was just flirting, in an attempt to become Ticy's Limiter; Kazuya was stunned and Satellizer simply blushed… along with a look of shock.

Sister Margaret then walked in, saying "I see you've managed to find our new student." everyone nodded, "But, before you carry on talking through the night, may I remind you that it is long after curfew and the Carnival starts today." Having felt that she'd said enough, Sister Margaret quietly walked away. "Today?" Abel asked. "It's after midnight, Abel" Carter said. Everyone looked at one another in shock, although Carter didn't seem to share their mutual expressions, they'd gone through the night… and the Carnival was today! "It seems you'd all better get to your dorms then" said Carter. "On the subject of dorms; do you know where you'll be sleeping, Carter?" asked Kazuya. "As far as I know, there is a room in preparation," said Ticy, "but there isn't even a bed yet." "Well it shouldn't be a problem, I hardly sleep anyway." Carter said. "Kazuya, could he share a room with you until his is ready?" Ticy asked. "Sure, I don't mind." "You sure?" Carter asked Kazuya, "Of course." And with that they all headed off to their rooms, Carter and Kazuya walking together.


	6. Chapter 4

Ch4:

The Carnival was now well underway, Satellizer had practically ensured herself a place in the top five, having brought down Attia and Ganessa just after they had tangled with – and gotten away from – Elizabeth. Satellizer had allowed for the two to gain points, almost helping them along by weakening other Pandoras for them, but when the two ran into Elizabeth, Satellizer knew that things had become infinitely harder. Just as Elizabeth was about to deal a finishing blow to Attia and Ganessa, Rana had distracted her, clearly attempting to take out the highest ranked girl in the school… that didn't quite work out for her. But now Satellizer had decided to take her leave and avoid fighting for the rest of the day.

The very next day Satellizer realized that she hadn't seen Ticy at the Carnival, and she decided to find out why. After talking to Sister Margaret, she found that Ticy didn't take part in the Carnival: she had somehow managed to worm her way out of taking part.

Kazuya and Satellizer had just finished lunch, but there were still 20 minutes of their break left and, they had decided that, in that time they would look for Carter and Ticy. They eventually found Ticy, outside the simulation room.

"Where's Carter?" Satellizer asked. "I'm not really sure," Ticy started, clearly acting, "I think he went to the cafeteria looking for you two." Kazuya and Satellizer looked at one another skeptically, then looked at Ticy, asking her to tell the truth and telling that her acting was very bad. "He's inside." "Huh?" Satellizer asked. "Their running some tests" she said as innocently as possible. "What could a Limiter do in the simulation room? He's practically useless without a Pandora and an Ereinbar Set." Kazuya said.

'Damn,' Ticy thought to herself, 'looks like they're about to find out anyway, so I might as well tell them'.

"He's not a Limiter" Ticy said. "Ticy, what do you mean he's not a Limiter? He can't be a Pandora!" Satellizer said. "I know, I was also confused at first but then Carter explained everything to me… It's a little difficult to explain, I'm supposed to keep people out but I'll take you inside myself and let him explain it himself." Kazuya and Satellizer looked at one another quizzically.

'Wonderful.' Carter thought to himself, 'Another Nova… Oh well, this is just a simulation, no point in going all out.' And with that, he changed form; he went from human form to Promethean mode, he was now tall enough to grab the Nova and throw it to the side, but he opted instead to simply crush its head, expose its core and give it a good bash. Now he was done, and he knew that because he could see the textures and colours disappear from the walls and floors of the simulation room. He changed back to human form, found the door and went to grab himself something to eat.

As he reached the door, the simulation started again; "Oh, come on! What more do you want?! I've shown you what I can do, as you asked; what else do you want me to do?" Then he heard the sound of an approaching Nova behind him. His first thought 'Trying to catch me off guard are they? Fair enough, not like the Nova play fair anyway.' Then he realized that his back was still to the Nova; it wasn't common, but it wasn't unheard of either, that Pandoras could die in the simulation room. Sometimes the robotic Nova short-circuited and went berserk, meaning that the simulation went out of control, sometimes the guys controlling the robot would make a mistake and accidentally kill a Pandora.

But Carter was no Pandora, he was a Promethean class Titan. And there was a reason he was in lockdown for so long: he's dangerous. A normal Pandora could go Nova if she used too much power in one go, that's why the Pandoras are a double edged sword; but Carter was also a double edged sword; he was far more powerful than any Pandora, but his powers were mostly out of control, he could destroy an entire city and not realize it until after the destruction is done.

The Nova got closer and closer. Carter swiftly turned around, changed into a dinosaurian creature and began to attack the Nova, 'Might as well have a little fun,' he thought, 'so I'll drag this out a bit.'

Kazuya found it interesting to watch Carter fight a Nova, even though it was just a simulation; Satellizer was more shocked than anything. Ticy explained to them what Carter had told her the day they met; that Carter was a Promethean, a prototype to the Pandora, that he was 87% stigmata tissue and that he was genetically engineered to be able to do almost anything. She didn't have to explain that he could incarnate a Volt Weapon, as Carter demonstrated that ability quite well; having incarnated and destroyed 12 weapons since they started watching him. "Isn't the point of fighting a Nova to kill it as quickly as possible?" Kazuya asked. "Yes," Ticy replied, "he's dragging this out on purpose." "But why would he be dragging it out?" Satellizer asked. "This is his twelfth simulation in the last three hours, he's tired, so he wants to give them as much data as possible because then he doesn't have to do this again tomorrow." Ticy answered. "Oh, but howcome he can incarnate so many different weapons?" Satellizer asked with a quizzical look on her face. "I don't know how he gets that right, he just does."

Then, suddenly, the Nova in the simulation room vanished. The simulation had ended… and Carter hadn't even killed the Nova yet. The guys up in the control room had probably realized he was dragging it out and decided to end it there.

Carter walked out of the simulation room in into the viewing area. The moment he saw Kazuya and Satellizer he said "So you found me out, huh?" "Yes." Satellizer said. "Your skills are quite impressive." Kazuya said. "Oh, I assure you: it was nothing."


	7. Chapter 5

Ch5

And it was nothing. Carter didn't have very long before he would have to prove that. Somehow the tapes of his simulation had gotten out and a number of 3rd year students wanted to challenge him in combat. Namely Ganessa and Attia along with a few others.

Of course, no one said it would be fair combat; but in Carter's mind, there was no way for it to be fair. How could it be? He was a prototype, scientists build prototypes to learn the limits of what they are doing, and Carter was at that limit. Heck, he had three Legendary Stigmata, which was more than Chevalier would ever care to admit – he had one on the small of his back, another in the center of his chest and a third on the inside of his skull.

Kazuya and Satellizer were having lunch when Rana appeared and breathlessly yelled "Ganessa and some other Pandoras are fighting the new guy!" Rana clearly hadn't been paying attention to the leaked video, because she obviously didn't know who Carter was. Satellizer and Kazuya looked at one another, both knew that this would probably end badly, for who they didn't know; so the two got up and ran as Rana led them to the scene of the fight.

When they got there they could see that Carter had clearly been holding back, using basic hand-to-hand combat maneuvers he'd given Ganessa a few cuts with his pocket knife – which, by the way, had a very small blade.

Ganessa had been lashing out at Carter with her chains for the better part of the last 20 minutes and so far she hadn't even touched him, that part was difficult for her to take in, even more unbelievable was the fact her partners-in-combat (Attia and the others) hadn't touched him either. Carter hadn't cut her very deep, but his constant knife attacks were wearing her down. "Where is the power I saw in the video?!" she yelled at him, "He's holding back!" Attia yelled. "You have no idea." Carter said to them, a grin forming on his face. "But the best part", Ganessa said, "is that we're holding back as well. Time to use our other abilities girls!" she yelled. Attia and the others were right with her on that, they'd been dying to use their abilities, but they all seemed to want the opinion of another Pandora. A small crowd had formed, Pandoras and Limiters, some cheering them on, others worried for Carter's wellbeing. 'This should be quite a show' Attia thought to herself.

Attia used her Tempest Turn in an attempt to confuse Carter, but only succeeded in confusing herself because when each of her clones was about to kick or punch Carter, their fists and kicks went straight through him. He then vanished. She looked around, suddenly seeing Carters all over the place. Then all of them disappeared, excluding the one to her right. "I would call this fun," he started, "but I've barely warmed up. But just because this fight is unfair, I'll let each of you get one free hit, but you all have to hit me at the same time or I won't let you touch me." "Like you have much of a say in whether or not we hit you." Ganessa said, now clutching her left arm, as one of the cuts Carter had made seemed to be growing deeper by the minute. "You don't look to be in a position to decide that either, so don't get cocky. Now come on, I'm standing here and I'm not moving until one of you, or all of you, hits me." All the girls launched at him, but as they were about to hit him they all froze. Someone was using their Freezing. Everyone's eyes darted around, looking for the source of the Freezing field. It was Kazuya. "Kazuya!" they all yelled through gritted teeth, all except Carter, who was still standing calmly… but then he moved.

Carter started walking through the Freezing! Everyone was shocked at this. Nothing could move through a field of Freezing, even the caster of the Freezing was fairly immobilized unless he retracted it. And yet here Carter was, walking through Freezing. A Pandora could move through Freezing, but only when in Pandora Mode, and even then movement was slow, but Carter walked around normally, as if Freezing itself had never existed.

Carter walked up to Ganessa and delivered a heavy punch to her stomach, she didn't move, she couldn't. By the time Kazuya realized what Carter was doing it was too late… Carter had also kicked Attia in the back. Carter then walked off. Kazuya released the Pandoras from his Freezing, but the moment he did, Ganessa and Attia both flew backwards, slamming into one of the academy buildings. It was almost as if the Freezing was absorbing the momentum from the blows, and then reapplying it when it vanished. No one had ever thought this possible, but it just happened in front of them. 

The next day Carter got weird looks from everyone in the cafeteria, but he simply ate his lunch. Ticy sat with him, Abel reluctantly joined them. Attia and Ganessa were both recovering in their rooms, Attia's back was beyond broken and Ganessa's stomach area had a massive bruise. Although the bruising definitely went through to her stomach because she wasn't able to eat at all.

Carter got no more challenges for the next week… except one: Elizabeth Mably. She claimed she was simply bored and that she had decided to test his strength so that she knew where they stood with one another. To the rest of the academy this was shocking, the part that made it more shocking was that she challenged him in front of everyone in West Genetics (in the cafeteria).


	8. Chapter 6

Ch6

Elizabeth had challenged him to a fight in the Carnival Arena, Sister Margaret couldn't really say no because the academy rules practically encouraged fighting amongst Pandoras (this now included Carter), so she was inclined to allow the fight to take place, although it wasn't often Pandoras would randomly challenge one another to an Arena fight.

It had become a massive spectacle, everyone in West Genetics had turned up to watch, even some students from East Genetics came to watch. Gengo himself was there as well. It seemed he was eager to see how Carter would handle the 5th strongest Pandora in the world (now that Chiffon was dead, everyone moved up one rank)… when in truth he wanted to see how Elizabeth, the 5th strongest in the world, would hold up against Carter.

No Limiters were allowed in this fight, mostly because Carter didn't have one, but everyone knew that a Limiter was pointless in this case because Carter could effortlessly walk through Freezing. As he'd demonstrated a week earlier.

There wasn't much in the way of formalities, Elizabeth and Carter greeted one another, assumed their combat positions – weapons drawn, in Elizabeth's case – and began to fight.

Elizabeth thought she had the upper hand, her Volt weapons were out first. She aimed for his shoulders and hips… Miss. Carter had somehow moved out of the way. She fired again, this time aiming for his feet, deeming his speed to be her main problem. Miss. She fired again and again. Missing each time. After firing upon him ten times – using both her cannons at once - she was only just managing to keep her cool. Another ten shots from each weapon. More misses. Now she was getting frustrated. "Stop moving!" she muttered under her breath. "I'll stay still for you. If you ask nicely." Carter said. 'What?' she thought, 'How could he have heard me? I had barely even said it aloud!' Carter then decided he was to stay still for a moment, giving her ample chance to hit him. She fired, but not before generating another two cannons. One shot per cannon, all aimed at his chest.

There was an explosion of light as the shots made contact with Carter's flesh. The light dimmed down… only to reveal four glowing balls of energy floating around Carter's left hand: he'd caught each of her shots. Each one now in the form of a ball. They floated around his hand, dancing between his fingers. He then began to juggle with them, as he juggled them each one split into two smaller balls. He was now juggling eight balls of pure light. Elizabeth had been staring in shock for quite a while now. Carter then stopped juggling, each ball heading to the palm of his hand, where they joined up to form one larger ball. He then clutched his hand into a fist, light flickering between his fingers… and then dying out. He opened his hand to reveal that the ball of light was no longer existent.

"Now do you know where we stand with one another?" Carter said to her. Elizabeth simply nodded, she was in complete shock. Then another Pandora entered the arena: The Godspeed of the East. "I noticed you're quite fast. How about we use our accel abilities in combat?" she asked Carter. "I'll happily oblige." Carter replied. She raced off, using a normal accel to start off the fight. Carter joined her, but when she looked at him she noticed that it didn't actually look like he was using accel, he seemed to simply be running alongside her. She incarnated her Volt weapon and went into a double accel, she'd decided not to drag this out, or she'd end up making Elizabeth look bad, and she had a lot of respect for Elizabeth. She then attacked. Carter dodged. 'But how?' she thought, 'He doesn't look like he's increased his speed.' She attacked again. Another miss. Now she felt she knew how Rattle felt when she fought a Pandora for the first time. She struck again. Miss.

Again. Miss.

Again. Miss.

Again. Miss.

Again.

Hit.

Her weapon had made contact with Carter… He was holding it. NOW she knew how Rattle felt in her first fight with a Pandora. 'Just what is he?' she asked herself, 'A male Pandora? Is such a thing even possible?'

She'd have to worry about her questions later because now Carter was holding onto her Volt weapon… and it was beginning to disintegrate. She wrenched it from his grip, went into triple accel and went for one last attack.

She struck out at him. He dodged. That would mean that he was moving faster than she was, and she was using a triple accel.

"I've seen enough." Elizabeth suddenly said. Cassie stopped. She and Elizabeth had planned this beforehand. While watching the leaked simulation footage they both noticed that Carter used all manner of abilities while fighting the Nova… except his speed. They both felt it necessary to gauge his speed-based abilities for future reference. Now they knew that if Carter went nuts and turned Nova it would be best to use accel-based abilities against him… not that it would do them much good.

"You wanted to see the extent of my abilities?" Carter asked.

"No," Elizabeth replied, "just your speed, I've already seen all you're other abilities."

"All of them?"

"Unless there are more in your resume. In which case I look forward to seeing them someday."

"How about I showcase one more?" Carter asked.

And before Elizabeth could even respond she was frozen, neither she nor Cassie could move. Both their eyes darted around, looking for the Limiter responsible. "There is no Limiter present. Only us three. I'm sure you could use your powers of deduction to figure out what that means." The field of Freezing then vanished, freeing the two Pandoras from its grasp.

They both looked at Carter in shock. 'He can use Freezing?' they thought; now he was far too powerful, if he somehow went rogue or became an enemy there would be no stopping him… not that they would have been able to keep up with his movements in the first place. Or stand up to his strength, for that matter.


	9. Chapter 7

Ch7

Elizabeth and Cassie bowed towards Carter and then left the arena. Then Satellizer walked in.

"Carter, I challenge you to a duel of strength. No accel, no high-speed dodging; just strength and weapons." Carter bowed and motioned for her to walk further into the arena where they could begin the duel unrestricted by walls and other obstacles.

"Shall we begin?" Satellizer asked. "I think we shall." Carter replied.

Satellizer attacked first, Carter dodged (it wasn't a high-speed dodge, just one of your average human dodges), he then punched her in the stomach; clearly holding back when compared to what he had done to Ganessa and Attia. The punch winded her, but she quickly regained her breath and incarnated her Volt weapon: Nova Blood. This would be her first time using any of her abilities (besides Volt Texture) since she got back from Alaska - after the E-Pandora incident.

Just as Satellizer was about to bring Nova Blood down on Carter's arm, an alarm went off. They then heard an announcement: stating that all first year Pandoras were to go to their dorms, all third year Pandoras were being summoned to battle a Humanoid Nova, while all second years were to remain on standby… then came another announcement: Carter was to provide combat support to the third years. "Oh come on! Really?" Carter whined, "Really, now? Just when I'm getting back into the hang of things. Oh well, nothing I can do about the Nova's timing, might as well take care of it."

The fight was fairly quick and uneventful, to Carter it seemed as if this Nova was weaker than any he had ever encountered, it was even weaker than those he fought during simulations. The only thing that was of worry was that a second Nova appeared as he killed the first one. As Carter turned a corner, instead of coming face to face with the second Nova, he was face to face with a Nova-fied Satellizer. He'd heard from Ticy that Satellizer once went Nova but that it was due to their absorption by the Nova itself. 'Great,' he thought, 'just when things were getting easy… the Nova just had to evolve.' Carter knew what to do: if he could get to the Nova, it would try absorb him, but the Nova had never encountered a Promethean before, so the interdimensional being wouldn't know what to make of him and he could then destroy it from the inside out… Of course, this meant getting past Satellizer first.

'Help me…' she thought, 'I know I've gotten out of this before but I can't do it, I JUST CAN'T!' Satellizer tried to stay calm, but she was overrun by fear; she tried to gain control, but she was powerless against her own body. 'I don't know what to do… how did I get out of this last time?'

"It's quiet here, isn't it?" she heard a voice, "Calming and somewhat therapeutic."

Satellizer thought she was going insane, she was hearing voices; now she felt the same way she did the last time she went Nova, only this time there was a voice… a slightly familiar one at that. "Who's there?" she asked, in her head.

"It's me, Carter."

"How are you in my head?" Satellizer asked.

"Legendary Pandora can use telepathy when in Nova form, I can use it freely. But that's beside the point, you still haven't answered my question."

"Uh… y-yes, it is quiet here, too quiet for me though." she finally replied.

"Depends." Carter replied.

"On what?"

"On what you make of it. You're inside your mind, it's your playground." he said, "You can make up whatever you want, you can create your own little world; although I wouldn't suggest trying to create the whole world, that would result in a severe headache."

Satellizer was confused, she'd only had an experience like this once before, but that was a complete nightmare, this on the other hand was calming… to a certain extent, anyway. What person, besides Carter, enjoys being surrounded in nothing but their own thoughts? Even the suicidal ones.

"And the rest of your answer?" Carter asked.

"Huh?" Satellizer said.

"You only told me about the silence, but I also asked about whether or not you found it calming and therapeutic."

'Oh, right.' Satellizer thought, not realizing that Carter could hear her; then she said to him "It feels slightly calming, save for the fact that I'm slowly turning into a Nova. Whether or not this is therapeutic is debatable."

"Fair enough, although, as I said earlier it depends on what you make of it."

"What do you mean by that?" she asked.

"Simple: this is your mind, you can imagine anything you want. All you have to do is imagine it, because in here anything is possible." Carter replied.

"Sooo I can imagine Kazuya and then he'll appear here?"

"Pretty much. It will be as good as the real thing, depending on how many details you remember." Carter said.

"Details?" Satellizer asked.

"Yes, details. Say you've lost a pet, it died many years ago and you really miss it, imagine your pet were standing in front of you and it should appear, if you even remember what it's personality was like then the one in here will have the same personality as the real thing. Heck, you can even use this to simulate events before and after they happen. In your case, you want to imagine Kazuya, just imagine him and if you remember him perfectly, then you'll get a perfect replica of him."

"Like this?" she said.

Carter looked over and noticed Kazuya standing next to him. "Like that, yes."

'Wow' Satellizer thought to herself, again not realizing that Carter could hear her every thought.

Carter looked around, noticing that they were now in the cafeteria. He looked out the window and, to his astonishment, he noted that he could see everything in the school. Or rather, the view looked the way it should, as in it was perfect, as in Satellizer had just recreated the entire academy. "Oh boy" he said to himself, "Now she's gone and done it: created a replica of the whole academy."

Then Ticy walked in. "Plus the students" Carter said. 'That's just great, now she'll probably forget she's even in her own head at all, since she recreated everything in perfect detail she'd have no reason to doubt that this was the real thing' he thought to himself.

Carter then heard laughter and chatter. 'Yup, every little detail. There's no getting her out of this now' he thought.

Satellizer was already having lunch with Kazuya and a few others when Carter turned his attention back to them. "Satellizer, let's go." Carter said to her.

"Mmh?" Satellizer asked.

Kazuya then asked "Satella, who is this?", everyone else at the table looking at Carter in confusion.

"Kazuya," Satellizer said, "this is Carter, don't you remember him?"

"To be honest I've never seen him before in my life." Kazuya said.

"Satellizer, have you already forgotten? We're in your head, this is all your imagination, come on, we need to go now." Carter said.

"In my head?" Satellizer asked.

"Oh my word, you can't tell me you've gone and forgotten it all. At this very moment you're in Nova form destroying the entire school."

"Listen pal," Kazuya said, "I don't know what you're up to but I certainly don't like it, now move on."

"Nope, sorry kiddo, but I'm not going anywhere. You see, at the moment Satellizer is in Nova form, I'm here because I can telepathically communicate with people and now I'm in her head with her; you are all figments of her imagination, I'm sure that if I were to break a window it would reveal a white or black void because she hasn't yet imagined what's outside this building." Carter replied.

"Fine then, I'll-"

"Chiffon?" Satellizer asked?

"Wait, what?" Carter said, turning around to see what Satellizer was looking at. And there she was: Chiffon.

"Yes, el Bridget?" Chiffon asked.

"You're alive? But how?"

"Satella, what's going on?" Kazuya asked, being silenced by Carter before he could ask any more questions.

"Chiffon, you died during the E-Pandora incident. You went Nova and blew up." Satellizer said, starting to cry, "How are you still alive?"

Chiffon looked at Carter, "Brother, is this true? Am I dead?"

"Yes, Chiffon, you died a few weeks ago…" Carter trailed off, he himself was starting to tear up.

"Oh, right." Chiffon said, "I did die a while ago, didn't I? Amelia, an E-Pandora, went Nova and was about to explode; I myself then went Nova and cocooned her as her Nova form blew up. I may have died but I saved many lives that day." Chiffon blankly stated.

"What is going on here?!" Kazuya shouted, a massive Promethean hand covering his face to keep him quiet.

"If you need more proof that we are most certainly not in the real world…" Carter said, grabbing Kazuya by the ankle and hanging him upside down all the while breaking a window with his free hand, Carter then hung Kazuya out over the dark abyss that surrounded the cafeteria building.

"Carter! Please, don't!" Satellizer shouted.

"Fine then," Carter said, putting Kazuya down safely, "but I still have to deliver a shock to your system to get you out of here and in control of your body" he finished, walking out of the cafeteria and down a corridor. A few seconds later he came back with someone else in his grasp: Satellizer.

"What the?" Kazuya asked.

"This is easily explained: Satellizer fears her Nova form, understandably, but now that she's in Nova form all she wants is for things to be back the way they were. I almost thought you'd recreated the entire academy in your head, which would be surprising for a first timer, but alas. Anyway, you forgot that 'back to normal' entailed a distinct lack of me and a dead Chiffon… you also forgot that you yourself are part of said 'normal', so you recreated yourself without your own knowledge. And that's how we got to where we are now. I honestly hope that this is shocking enough to your brain because I'm probably beating you to a pulp in the real world and I really don't want to get back only to find out that I've killed you" Carter said.

"Brother," Chiffon said, "throw her out the window."

"Of course, it would shock her system more than enough to wake her up. But what if-" he looked up only to see that Chiffon had vanished, "Never mind. Satellizer, forgive me for what I do here and now, but this is for the sake of saving your friends and the lives of everyone in the academy."

"Whatever it is, do it; I don't want my friends to die, even if I do."

"Alright then. And, for future reference: I'm sorry." Carter then threw the imaginary Satellizer out the window and into the darkness. He then grabbed Kazuya and threw him out as well. Carter then started throwing every person in sight out the window, it pained Satellizer to see her friends die, but she knew it wasn't real.

"Carter! Carter stop!" a voice shouted. Carter stopped and looked around, searching for the source of the voice, but he found there to be none. "Stop this instant! If you hurt her anymore, physically or mentally, I will personally see to it that you spend a week on the chopping board in Hell."

"Who are you?" Carter shouted

"Now I can't hear you," the voice started again, "but I know you can hear me. Stop whatever you're doing, I'll pull you both out of there, you've done enough to damage her mental state. Physically she's in bad shape, but she's a Pandora, she'll heal. What you've done to her mind, on the other hand… I'm not sure that damage will ever heal."

Suddenly Carter found himself standing where he was just before he entered Satellizer's mind. He looked at his hands: covered in blood. He looked around… and saw the corpses of 3 Nova, Satellizer lying – almost dead – on the floor. Out of nowhere a tall, muscular man in a suit appeared, the man placed two fingers on Satellizer's blood caked forehead and she instantly began to heal.

"Who are you?" Carter asked.

"I'm old."

"Answer my question. Who are you?"

"An old man. One who just saved your life and the lives of those around you… including her."

"That doesn't really answer my question." Carter said.

"If that doesn't answer your question, I don't know what will."

"Are you always this cryptic?" Carter asked.

"Only when I want to be." The man paused, "But you have a problem, son."

"What problem? In case you hadn't noticed, the Nova are dead, there's nothing left to be done until they come back."

"You think the Nova are your only problem? The Pandoras are a double-edged sword, you're one as well. Only, with you there are two separate blades, connected to one another by a very small hilt in the middle. Not a lot of space for grip, very little room for error. Believe me, son, your problems are only just beginning."

"First of all, stop calling me son; secondly, this double-bladed weapon is handling itself just fine."

"This 'double-bladed weapon' is sitting on a stand in a glass case when compared to what it could really do."

Carter was starting to lose his cool, first this man saves his life when he felt he didn't need help, then this stranger insults him, his dignity was a little hurt.

"Oh, calm down." the stranger started, "It's not like anyone saw me save your life, your dignity is intact. At least for now, anyway."

"What do you mean?" Carter asked.

"My friends will be arriving soon. We were just passing by but I noticed a spatial disturbance and came to investigate."

"Spatial disturbance?" Carter asked, "Like as in someone or something teleporting?"

"Along those lines."

"But isn't teleportation impossible?" Carter asked.

"When you move, you aren't moving through space, space is moving to accommodate you; you don't see the stretching and warping, but it's there; to teleport is simply to fold space upon itself so that you can instantaneously move from one place to another, this leaves little tears but those usually close up by themselves. Often in an explosive manner. Hence why your 'Nova' explode after a certain amount of time…"

"OK, so… that means the Nova aren't from another dimension?" Carter asked, slightly confused.

"What bothers me," the stranger started, seemingly ignoring Carter's question, "is that they explode instead of implode. They should be imploding on themselves. Maybe they have a half-life?" the stranger asked himself.

"Wait, hang on." Carter stopped him, "How do you know about the Nova? How do you know they explode after a certain amount of time?"

"I read it in her mind. I've been piecing her mind together while we've been talking, seems she had quite the valid reason for her extreme apephobia, hence 'The Untouchable Queen'."

"So she's OK then?" Carter asked.

"She'll make a full recovery. I suggest she spend the next week or so in her dorm with close friends to keep her company, they'll aid in the healing process just by being there."

"OK that can be arranged, I'll make sure that happens." Carter said.


	10. Chapter 8

Ch 8

"You still haven't told me your name." Carter pointed out.

"I haven't?" the stranger replied, "That's unusual, usually I would have introduced myself by now. Eren C. Jaeger, pleasure to meet you. Now, before we do anything else, I have a few things I need to do; the first would be to talk to Sister Margaret, the second would be to get something to eat."

Eren walked towards the nearest building and in no time at all was he in the Sister's office.

"Good day, Sister Margaret. Eren C. Jaeger, interdimensional being and time traveler at your service, pleasure to make your acquaintance. I know you have questions, you can ask those later, in the mean time I'll be heading over to the cafeteria for something to eat. That's OK, isn't it? Of course it is, as long as I remember to pay for the food right?" Eren said, he then walked off to the cafeteria, got several trays of food and started eating.

The next few days went by as normal; Carter was in the top of his class when it came to combat, fights broke out amongst the girls, their Limiters supported them, all was normal; even for Carter.

Every now and then he would spot Eren watching them from the distance, simply observing. At one point a girl tried to talk to him, Eren replied with "I'm thinking, please leave me alone.", the girl would then try to talk to him again only to get the same answer; she tried over and over, the cycle repeating itself. Eventually she got pissed off at Eren and tried to attack him. She threw high speed punches at him, she tried to break his neck, she even broke her Volt Weapon on his head when she tried to hit him with it. Eren simply stood there, completely unfased by what she had dished out to him. In a final attempt to get Eren's attention the Pandora went into Pandora Mode, used an accel and rammed him…

Eren simply grabbed hold of her by the throat as she was about to ram him, the force of her own attack hurting her. Eren then set her down in a nearby chair, healed her neck the same way he had healed Satellizer's injuries a few days before and continued his silent vigil.

Then one day everything just went haywire.

The Ravensbourne Nucleotide was giving off the strangest readings ever, as if reacting to something. Gengo arrived promptly and headed straight for the Nucleotide, not saying a word to anyone, at one point he nearly bumped into Sister Margaret, he simply gave her a nod and continued walking, the Sister following all the way to the Nucleotide, picking up Ticy along the way.

When they got to the Nucleotide they saw that nothing had changed physically, the Holy Corpse hadn't moved, nothing was broken, absolutely nothing had changed.

Gengo started checking all the computer screens, checking to see if there were any clues as to the sudden seismic activity which seemed to emanate from the Nucleotide itself.

The readings were off the charts! Gengo had never seen anything like it, never before had Maria's corpse given off such readings. Then he heard a voice…

"_Where?"_ the voice said, trailing off into the silence.

"What?" Gengo asked, "Where's what?"

Right about now, Ticy and Sister Margaret were looking at Gengo in confusion, to them, he seemed to be talking to himself.

"Gengo Aoi?" Ticy asked, "Is everything alright?"

"All is fine, Ticy Phenyl, all is fine. I have something to tell you." Gengo replied.

"What?" Ticy asked.

"Maria Lancelot, the Holy Corpse, she's alive. She is alive and conscious."

"Gengo, what are you talking about?" Sister Margaret asked, confused and slightly infuriated that such a fact, if true, was kept from her all this time.

"_Where is he?"_ the voice asked, this time both the Sister and Ticy could hear the voice.

"That, my friends, is the voice of Maria Lancelot herself. Before she came to be in this state she had saved the world from the Nova twice over, the second time was just before she and I got married and had children, all of whom are either students at Genetics academies across the globe or are currently members of Chevalier itself." Gengo stated, in an almost showman-like manner, which was unusual for him.

"_Where is he?"_ the voice asked again, louder and more persistent this time.

"I'm here, Maria." a voice said out of the shadows. A man stepped out of the darkness, showing his identity to those present: Eren.

"_Is- is it really you?"_ the voice stammered out, sounding shocked and sad.

"It's really me. I'm here." Eren said.

"Who are you?" Gengo asked Eren.

"Eren C. Jaeger, now shush son, I'm trying to talk to a long lost family member." Eren stated flatly, almost ignoring Gengo.

"_It's- it's just been such a long time…"_

"I know, I thought I'd never see you again after the Babel Incident. I thought long ago that you were dead, you'd simply vanished into thin air." Eren said, "I struggled for millennia to find you, I searched and searched; but no manner of magic, power or technology could find you, none could even pick up traces of your existence."

"_Fathe-…"_ Maria's voice faltering, as if she were sobbing.

"I'm here, my daughter, I'm here." Said Eren, trying to soothe his daughter with his words and voice, as he knew that he could not touch her, the Nucleotide was the only thing keeping her alive at this point and he'd figured that out the moment he saw her again.

"Daughter?" Gengo asked, looking back and forth between Eren and his wife, Maria.

"There's a reason I called you son, I don't give nicknames without good reason, normally I just use them after they've been established but in this case I have every right to call you that." Eren replied.

Through all this Ticy and Sister Margaret had been silent, too shocked to say anything.


	11. Chapter 9

Big thanks to ACSkywalker and Marcus Ironwood for helping out with this chapter. AC I know you wrote this on the spur of the moment (after having read my last chapter) but seriously, thanks for the help.

As much as I appreciate it, I would prefer to keep my writing MY writing, so next time don't practically force me into adding to what you've written for me, I really do appreciate the help but I hope you understand. It's just that you have typos everywhere and it's very annoying to have to go through what is technically my own work to look for spelling errors or typos.

Although I'll definitely be asking for help sooner or later. Writers blocks and all, a conversation or two with you and Marcus can easily change all that.

Just a quick announcement: I am available as a beta reader, if you have anything that needs beta reading (if you're looking for someone to correct spelling and grammar or just for someone to give an honest opinion before you publish), I'd be only to happy to oblige.

* * *

Ch9:

Soon after Eren's reunion with his daughter another clash occurred. The moment the alarms went off Eren quietly said to himself, "They're here. That was faster then I anticipated."

The only one who heard this though was Carter and he gave Eren a puzzled look as Eren looked actually rather pleased.

All the Pandoras had equipped their Volt Textures, the third years had their weapons drawn and at the ready; second year students were to remain on standby, all the first years had to stay within their dorms.

Two Nova clashes within such a short span of each other, this was almost unheard of, no one had the slightest idea of what to expect.

Then a separate announcement was made over the intercoms "Carter E. Jaeger and Eren C. Jaeger are to accompany the third year students leading the assault on the Nova."

"We have the same surname as each other?" Carter asked.

"Funny that, although last I checked you are the result of genetic engineering, I've never donated my blood to any lab. Not that I can remember, anyway. Though I may have left some DNA or skin cells last time I was here."

"What?!" Carter exclaimed.

"Nothing, we'll talk about your genetics another time, right now you need to follow your orders... not that you will do much." Eren muttered that last bit under this breath, it was barely audible, even to Carter's ears.

As they got outside, the Nova was nowhere to be seen. Until they turned to the left. There it was, an S-Type Nova, Carter and Eren were to wait until asked for help, at which point they would be allowed to obliterate the Nova.

As they were running towards the Nova they noticed an explosion to its right side, the blast throwing the Nova off to the side and melting some of its solid flesh. After what sounded like a gun shot, only much louder, the Nova simply fell over and died.

As they got nearer to the corpse, searching for the cause of the Nova's sudden death, they noticed three people standing atop the dead body. All of whom seemed to have strange auras radiating from them. They got closer, Carter noticed that these auras seemed to radiate pure power.

Then one of the men standing on the dead Nova spoke, he seemed to be talking to Eren.

"So this is where you vanished off to. Now it makes sense that you would change destinations so abruptly." shouted one of the three people standing a top the beaten Nova. The man who had spoken was wearing a dirty white cloak that fell around his booted ankles, under was a black jacket with a tall collar that was sticking up. He had long spiky black and brown hair that looked utterly untamed. From the distance they were standing none of the Pandora could make out his eye colour, however they were able to see the four long scars on his face. Three passed through his right eye while the fourth passed next to his left. The other two people standing next to him were also rather oddly dressed. The one standing almost directly behind the speaker also had long spiky hair though it spiked differently and was slightly more tamed he also wore a long coat though it was slightly shorter. On his bak was a huge black rifle. The last of the three was the hardest to make out as the light around him kept changing weirdly making the figure hard to make out. The only one who could make out the figure was Carter and even that was difficult. What he saw wasn't that frightening all he really saw was a hooded man, but he couldn't make out any colours which bothered him, but he didn't ask or say anything as Eren didn't look particularly bothered. Then something happened that have everyone a fright. The speaker vanished and re-appeared in front of Eren, he moved so fast that no-one even noticed that he'd moved until he spoke again. He'd also grabbed Eren's suit jacket. And lifted him by floating up about two meters. The Pandoras and Carter finally noticed his eyes, which were far more terrifying than anyone had thought, they were scarlet with strange black marks extending from the pupil.

"Eren I do realize that you've just found your children but you are our best tracker. WE NEED TO GET GOING AGAIN OR WE'LL LOOSE LINDA'S TRAIL!" The last part was shouted with desperation and anger. Then Eren did something none of the Pandora or Carter had ever seen him do. He backed down and winced. Then the other man did something the frightened the natives and head-butted Eren with enough force that he broke Eren's nose. Though the damage repaired its self almost immediately.

"I did what I had to. AC you have children as well. Remember old friend? What would you have done if you could find them again?" This deflated AC's anger and he floated down setting Eren down. His eyes also changed with the strange black markings receding back into his pupils and the colour into a deep moss green.

"I know old friend. I'm just... Never mind. We need to know where to go. We need you. Tempus can't find Kasai, he can't even get a vague reading. None of our rings can. Though Jack says that Dominus Lux heard Kasai's cries for help faintly."

"Animus heard nothing." Eren held up his right hand showing a strange ring. It seemed to be made of dark green scales that held a dark navy blue gem that swirled and radiated life. Carter then caught sight of another ring on AC's right hand. It was a simple looking ring. With a silver band and a deep purple gem. The ring radiated something that scared him, but he couldn't name or say why. The others who had come with AC were slowly walking towards the group, though as they approached the Nova they had been standing on attempted to stand up.

"Its still alive?" the man with the giant rifle asked, a surprised look on his face.

It didn't get particularly far as AC casually pointed what looked like a short katana with an S shaped guard at the Nova, muttered something and the blade shot out, appearing to extend, but it happened so fast none of the Pandora were able to get a clear look at what had happened. When everyone looked again AC was sheathing the blade. Neither of the other two even flinched.

"It seems these Nova usually implode after a certain time, they should be exploding because they come from this dimension instead of another one. Generally you have to destroy the core in it's chest to ensure death. From the looks of it your blade went right through it's core when you stabbed it, AC." Eren stated.

"Odd. Do they have a halflife? Also why the shape change what did you do with your tail?" the cloaked man asked.

"Seems like it, I'll look into it when I get a chance." Eren said, "If I were still in my usual form then the locals of this world and dimension would have reacted to my presence with more hostility."

AC just shrugged, "They should get over themselves."

"Diplomacy before provocation, AC." Eren reminded his friend, "Besides the Nova they haven't come into contact with any non-earthly sentience, and having your cities destroyed isn't exactly the best way to get introduced to the rest of existance."

"Fair enough. But can we please get moving?"

We'll move on in a few moments, I'll more than make up for lost time, I promise." Eren promised AC.

The man with the rife was eyeing all the Pandoras with a strangely appreciative look. The hooded one started to become properly visible, he became clearer. He was wearing strange black robes, over the robes was some armor with fitted shoulder pads and largish gauntlets over his forearms. The scarf under his hood hid practically all his skin. Like the other two he looked like he'd traveled for years. Then he pulled his hood off. Revealing a clean shaven face with a small scar on his chin. He had chocolate brown eyes and short blond hair. He looked at the Pandora then looked at his taller companion.

"Stop eyeing them Marcus. I do realize they are rather attractive, however I don't think that the limiters like the fact that you are ogling their partners."

"Come on how can I not? They have amazing breasts. Look at them, perfect shape and awesome size. On all of them. Loosen up Jack, I'm not actually doing anything harmful."

Jack just shook his head and grinned. The two moved towards the other two Walkers. The other two greeted Eren, though Jack and Eren used their own weird greeting and head-butted and stood back grinning. Then the Pandoras finally got over their shock.

Carter then asked "What the hell is going on!?"

"Carter, these are my closest friends, they are practically family to me." Eren said.

"OK, makes sense. Are they from the same place as you? Because you definitely aren't from earth."

"Ah, interesting question. No, our home worlds are scattered throughout time and space, and in some cases our home worlds no longer exist."

"Such as my world." chipped in Jack, "It was destroyed, by my universe's Galactic Empire. That was also the day I discovered who I was."

"In the case of my home world," said Eren, "it is currently being destroyed by GERECO mining vessels, they are causing undue volcanic eruptions and earthquakes which are destroying habitats, homes and killing off wildlife. Had I not discovered my more powerful abilities I would have died long ago."

"Soooo... You're aliens?" Kazuya asked.

"Yes," Marcus said, "none of us are of earth."

"Actually there are three of us from a version of Earth, only those three are tracking Linda using a different technique. Hence they aren't among us now." said AC calmly though he still looked agitated and was rapidly shifting from foot to foot.

"And with that", Eren started, "we must now leave, I have overstayed and we really must be going. I'll be back soon for Maria, at which point I'll most probably have news for you, Carter."

"Wait. News? On what?" Carter asked, but as he said this he blinked.

It was too late, Eren and company had mysteriously disappeared... They were gone. Though strangely there was now a small plant where Marcus had been standing.


End file.
